The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

rushdenman wrote:I think there are a number of issues which are not clear, and which could have a significant bearing on the finances:-

1. Is money still outstanding from the Tomlin sale? I understood that initial the fee was being paid in instalments over a period of time.

2. Does any sell-on clause on Tomlin benefit the Football Club and it's new owners, or did KC (who appears to be very shrewd) put a clause in the sale of the club whereby he ( or his Company) retain the rights to any sell-on fees, and maybe even any outstanding initial transfer monies from Tomlin's sale.

3. Assuming the Joe Day sale is confirmed ( I guess at the moment there can only be some pre-contract agreement as we are outside the transfer window) how discounted is the price as it is very much a buyer's market at the moment where we are concerned. I believe that Joe would have moved on in the summer anyway, and had our finances not required the immediate cash injection could we have held out for a lot more money.

4. If the Club receive say £50k. for Joe Day it only represents about 1 months wages, so it is only a temporary fix, and we have lost one of our best assets.

As others have said, I think we need open and clear information from the new owners regarding the finances, both current and projected, before commitments will be made by supporters to buy season tickets, and before players/staff will be convinced to sign new contracts or be prevented from looking elsewhere for more secure employment.


I'm sorry if that sounds negative but I think we need to be realistic anout our situation, which appears to be pretty dire at the moment.

Welsh wrote: I just a single question really. How is the football club going to be funded until the PBDevs business is cash generative?

In the absence of bums on seats, feet on terraces and sponsorship, none of which were going to happen this year, the presumption was this coming from the new owners. If it isn't and player sales is making up the shortfall then we need to be told that's the short term strategy and we'll build the squad once funding comes in. At the moment I cannot reconcile the comments made by the new owners with the recent events.

toad wrote:I believe all sell on clauses come to the club rather than third parties.
This got nailed down after Tevez transfer to West Ham.
The main problem with the Jackson transfer is that Norwich is paying in small instalments this all goes through the football league system. I am not too sure if the payments to us will come in instalments to or after all payments are made.
The Tomlin sell on fees go through the same process.
Back to Joe Day, I hope the move goes well for him, but the 50K will not last long considering Nene Park costs £1,000.00 a day to run.
Were my ears deceiving me but did the radio presenter mention another winding up order outstanding?

Trek wrote:I cannot see how a company like PBDev's can bring in sufficient revenue even in the long run. I understand that there is only a single leisure based course on offer, which is going to be free, so the asumption is that they are possibly relying on some sort of grant injection and the company in any event will have stiff competition from established local further education colleges such as Wellingborough, Moulton and Tresham.

rushdenman wrote:Under the present circumstances I am going to need an awful lot of information and guarantees before I consider parting with £600 for 2 season tickets, and I suspect that many existing season ticket holders will hold the same views, so the next 4 months will generate little income for the Club whilst the outgoings remain significant, not least players/staff wages.
If they are unable to meet obligations now, how do they propose to do this through the summer months?

There is no magic formula - most clubs at our level (and higher) are sustained by input of large amounts of cash from rich directors. Not many clubs would be capable of surviving on football related revenue alone.
The gap between the "haves" (top Premiership clubs) and the "have nots" continues to grow as more and more TV money goes to fewer clubs, so the long term prospects for lower league clubs to become totally self sufficient diminish.

We were very fortunate to enjoy 10 years of funding from Max, which enabled the Club to grow rapidly beyond it's true potential. It was always going to be very difficult to maintain that level without the continued funding as we have not had time to establish the neccesary volume of solid, core support that would be required. Other clubs have had decades, and more, to establish that support, and most of them are also financially struggling.

Dukes wrote:All this 'pie in the sky' finances by the Beasants will take us nowhere. Really feel this the end of our club as we know it.